Ciggie sales over

RISKY BUSINESS: Sue Sullivan of Kitchener's Cafe and Dairy in Martinborough, which quit selling cigarettes last month. When the Sullivans bought the store 20 years ago, the wall behind Mrs Sullivan was filled with cabinets "jam-packed" with cigarettes for sale, as was the counter. PHOTO/HAYLEY GASTMEIER

ONE Martinborough dairy has quit selling cigarettes in a bid to feel safer after a run of attacks on stores.

Over the last five years, Kitchener's Cafe and Dairy has been broken into three times and in each case cigarettes were the target.

But last month the store owners, Sue and Bruce Sullivan, gave up trading tobacco, hoping to minimise their risk of future break-ins.

Mrs Sullivan said cigarettes were becoming more sought after by criminals as tobacco prices hiked up.

She said the decision had been spurred on by a recent spate of burglaries in Martinborough and stories in the media of nasty attacks around the country.

"I heard the news about the lady in Auckland who was nearly battered to death by six teenage girls for the cigarettes in her shop. That struck a big chord with me, I thought that could have been me.

"Then the following day some young guys drove through doors in a shop like mine in Auckland to get their cigarettes. Again, I thought that could've been us," Mrs Sullivan said.

"Once I had that realisation, I felt endangered having cigarettes in our shop.

"At the same time we were having a huge spate of burglaries here in Martinborough, and I thought 'I don't want to be a victim'."

The store opens at 2.30am during winter months to serve workers mainly in the agricultural, forestry and roading industries. The couple have owned the business for 20 years and their decision to give up selling tobacco has been received positively by the community.